Displays are widely used to present information to viewers. In general, more information can be presented more clearly with displays having greater resolution. Moreover, displays with greater resolution are often more pleasing to viewers.
A variety of techniques have been proposed for presenting lower-resolution imagery on a higher-resolution display, for example using inter-pixel interpolation to increase the number of pixels in the image to match the number of pixels in the higher-resolution display. Other techniques, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 8,179,401 use dither patterns for sequentially displaying groups of pixels, particularly for addressing motion artifacts in color sequential displays, but does not actually improve the apparent resolution of the display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,032 discusses the use of a spatial light modulator to move the apparent location of light emitted by pixels. The spatial light modulator effectively enlarges the apparent pixel size to improve the fill factor. However, this approach does not actually improve the apparent resolution of the display.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,740 describes a printer using a spatial light modulator and proposes to duplicate pixel data by imaging the same data at multiple sites. This method can be used to create multiple overlapped images for the purpose of minimizing effects of pixel site defects in the spatial light modulator. Dithering is also proposed as a method for increasing the effective image resolution by printing a first image with the spatial light modulator in a first position, printing a second image with the spatial light modulator in a second position, and so on. This method can be used to increase image resolution by a multiple of two or four, depending on the dither pattern. However, this approach requires moving a relatively large spatial light modulator and requires a backlight.
There is a need, therefore, for devices, systems and methods for improving the apparent resolution of displays.